11 replies to this topic

[vortexentity]

The company has licensed and has begun developing a rejuvenation program therapy that features a medley of FDA approved prescription and non prescription drugs that offers an intracellular approach to slowing and possibly reversing the aging process in humans.

"It is well established that the primary biological cause of aging is the increasing proportion of senescent cells in the body. Cell senescence is the result of reduction in the telomere length of the individual cells as they repeatedly divide to replace dead cells," explains Symmetry President Chad Reed. "Our rejuvenation therapy process employs a process of selective chemical pruning of senescence cells and replenishment by stimulating the production and conversion of adult stem cells to cells with full (youthful) telomere length." Telomere length is the most reliable biological age marker, length inversely proportional to age. The Company's research in this area is being pursued in cooperation with Quantum Bit Induction Technology, Inc. and a small group of Ph.D. biologists.

"Another overlooked aging problem," continues Mr. Reed, "is that virtually every human has contracted some strain of the herpes virus, although in most people it is asymptomatic. There are many forms of herpes from simplex to chickenpox and multitudes of others. The herpes virus is introduced, to the general population, almost daily and accelerates cell senescence. We believe that the many forms of the, highly communicable, herpes virus slowly, almost imperceptibly, wreak havoc with the body's immune system and ultimately contribute substantially to the aging process."

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I am not as knowledgeable as some here and wanted the opinion of those with the biotech background to comment on their approach to anti-aging therapy.
Thanks

[niner]

Interesting idea... just kill the senescent cells via some clever chemotherapy, and wait for new ones to grow. Even if the DNA of the stem cell was damaged and this was inherited by the new cells, they should at least be healthy in most respects. Either that or grossly defective, or cancerous... So, have they demonstrated how great this works on elderly mice? Something tells me no. And the herpes thing- do they have a fix for this?

[forever freedom]

Sounds interesting. But as niner said, we need to see results first. Results in mice, preferably.

[vortexentity]

I am going to see if I can get an interview with the president of Symmtry Technologies and see if I can get these questions answered. Thanks for the input

[vortexentity]

Looks like I am going to get an interview with their lead scientist for their anti-aging therapy technology. I spoke to their President Chad and he said he will arrange for the interview. I would like to get any suggested questions for him from any members that are interested. Please post your questions here. I will be posting the interview here as well as some of my blogs.

[forever freedom]

I would like to know if they had done tests in mice or other animals and the results. Like increase in maximum lifespan of animals under their anti aging treatment vs. control group.

[Bram]

More snake oil! Just what we needed. Even if you don't know much biology you just have to look at the websites of the two companies you mentioned to figure out that much. Funny they're into quantum computing, too. But I guess it could be interesting to see what they have to say, if they indeed have real scientists working on this. Doubt it, though.

"Cell senescence is the result of reduction in the telomere length of the individual cells as they repeatedly divide to replace dead cells"
Cellular senescence can have many causes besides shortened telomeres, which are all probably much more important, at least in vivo.

"Our rejuvenation therapy process employs a process of selective chemical pruning of senescence cells and replenishment by stimulating the production and conversion of adult stem cells to cells with full (youthful) telomere length."
Even in their theory: but if cell divisions cause telomere shortening, and you're actively pruning cells and stimulating divisions, won't that just make you age faster?

"Telomere length is the most reliable biological age marker, length inversely proportional to age. "
If it is a reliable age marker (as far as I know it isn't), that hardly make it a causal relationship...

Furthermore, it's been proposed that telomere shortening might be a natural defence against cancer - what are they going to do about that?


I don't know anything about the herpes virus though, so I can't really judge their claims in that area without looking deeper into it.

[vortexentity]

Thanks for your input. I am putting together the Q & A to get ready for the interview and I will use all of the ones I can include. The snake oil comments I will leave out and give them the benefit of the doubt until I let them speak to the theory that they base their offering on.

[vortexentity]

Well this is what I have just sent along for the questions to the Symmetry Technologies Inc scientist.

In your press release it is stated: "Telomere length is the most reliable biological age marker, length inversely proportional to age."

If short telomeres are harmful with regard to aging and long telomeres represent a cancer risk how does your anti-aging therapy technology balance those risks?

Has your company completed any animal trials on your proposed anti-aging therapy. If not do you plan to have conducted animal trials within a certain time frame? When will your company publish the results of any trials you have conducted.

You mention briefly in your press release that herpes is major unseen factor in aging. How do you plan to address this problem? Does your company have a herpes treatment and have there been any trials conducted on that treatment?

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Any other questions that anyone would like to contribute here I will send along in the follow up questions.

Edited by vortexentity, 19 May 2008 - 04:00 PM.

[vortexentity]

This is the result of my Q&A with Symmerty Technologies Inc chief scientist.

Q: In your press release it is stated: "Telomere length is the most reliable biological age marker, length inversely proportional to age."

Q: If short telomeres are harmful with regard to aging and long telomeres represent a cancer risk how does your anti-aging therapy technology balance those risks?

A: Long telomeres do not represent cancer. It is the improper activation of telomerase, a riobonucleoprotein which enables cells to bypass their Hayfllick limit, or lifespan. There is a predefined number of cell replications a cell undergoes. With each replication, the telomeres shorten a predefined length. Once the telomeres are shortened enough, the "Hayflick Limit" is met. Once this limit is achieved, the cell senesces, or dies. if they don't die, the cells have a higher rate of mutations which ultimately lead to cancer and other diseases. We are not proposing to lengthen telomeres by activating telomerase inappropriately, but pruning off the "old" cells, and replacing them with the new.

Q: Has your company completed any animal trials on your proposed anti-aging therapy. If not, do you plan to have conducted animal trials within a certain time frame?

A: We have yet to conduct any animal trials on our therapy as it is in the beginning stages of development. We will conduct animal trials as it is warranted in developing our therapy


Q: When will your company publish the results of any trials you have conducted?

A: The company will publish the results of any completed trials within a reasonable time frame.


Q: You mention briefly in your press release that herpes is major unseen factor in aging. How do you plan to address this problem?

A: Currently, there are many anti-herpetic therapies approved. Theses as well as diet will be used to address this problem.

Q:Does your company have a herpes treatment and have there been any trials conducted on that treatment?

A: the company does not have a fully developed herpes treatment at this time.

Does anyone have any follow up questions for me to ask? If so please post them here and I will get them answered. Thanks for your input.

[forever freedom]

Q: Has your company completed any animal trials on your proposed anti-aging therapy. If not, do you plan to have conducted animal trials within a certain time frame?

A: We have yet to conduct any animal trials on our therapy as it is in the beginning stages of development. We will conduct animal trials as it is warranted in developing our therapy

So they're probably still very far away from having something that really works to slow down aging. Sounds like they still got a very long way to go.

[vortexentity]

Because it is based on approved prescription and non prescription drugs they should be moving to animal trials pretty quickly. They are a publicly traded small cap company so raising enough funds to pay for animal testing should not take them too long I would expect. I will be doing a follow up on this as I get time because it will be interesting to see where this goes. I mean the drugs already exist and are basically being tested for an off label application. They are not developing a new drug it seem they are only re-tasking existing ones for this application so the road to testing should be rather short wouldn't you say?